Using Graphic Organizers in Basic and Special Education

Graphic organizers are frequently used aids to aid in the comprehension of informational text for both regular and special education students in elementary, intermediate and secondary grade levels. They are simply defined as a visual representation of information in the text. According to Ausubel’s work, they enhance students’ learning and retention of unfamiliar but meaningful materials (Manoli Papadopulou, 2012). The use of graphic organizers enables teachers to facilitate the readers’ understanding of the text through visual depictions of key terms and concepts and the relationships among them (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, Shangjin, 2004). Because students with learning disabilities often have difficulty with everyday reading and organizational skills such as connecting new materials to prior knowledge, drawing inferences, and identifying and ignoring unnecessary information, it becomes especially challenging when these students are faced with challenging expos itory text with which to interpret and comprehend (Dexter Hughes, 2011). With the current emphasis in education on higher order thinking, educators must provide students with effective strategies to expand their skills (Sundeen, 2007). Therefore , in order to facilitate the highest level of learning possible, the learning strategy of using graphic organizers can be beneficial (Kim et al., 2004). While recognizing that students with learning disabilities have these difficulties, the argument does exist thatShow MoreRelatedEvaluation Of Competency Test For Students With Special Needs1592 Words   |  7 PagesThrough gathering data, educators have noticed that students with special needs are more prone to struggle with reading comprehension and literacy. Formal assessments such as, the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), are a major concern for students with disabilities and their teachers, because students are st ruggling with passing formal assessments and showing low abilities to comprehend the reading. In order to bridge this gapRead MoreMy Personal Philosophy of Special Education Essay1034 Words   |  5 PagesMy personal philosophy of special education drives not from teaching in the field, but from, observations, and personal experience, and the workshops I attended. 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